The Ghost in the Machine
|next = }} Synopsis Father Brown investigates the disappearance of a parishioner, Charlotte McKinley, who believed she was being haunted by her sister who had disappeared nine years previously. Her husband Victor (Andrew Havill), a struck-off doctor, is arrested as being responsible for the murder of both women. Plot Father Brown’s presence is requested at the home of Charlotte McKinley and she requests him to perform an exorcism on the house. Charlotte is convinced that she is being haunted by the ghost of her sister Elspeth, who mysteriously disappeared 9 years ago. Brown reminds Charlotte that Elspeth may still be alive and offers to bless the house. When he claims that ghosts do not exist, a chandelier comes crashing to the floor. Later that night, Brown performs the blessing to ease Charlotte’s worrying. However, she becomes terrified when Elspeth’s portrait apparently comes flying towards her. Disturbed, her husband Victor storms out of the house. Sid stays for the night to keep an eye on Charlotte and her daughter Selina. Later, Charlotte mysteriously vanishes from the living room, the only exit led right past Sid and the windows are locked tight. Shortly afterwards, Victor returns home and stashes something in the cupboard under the stairs before Selina informs him of Charlotte’s disappearance. At daybreak, Valentine arrives with a large police presence. There is a clear eagerness to investigate Victor, who was accused of being involved with Elspeth’s disappearance, not to mention the fact he has also been struck off as a doctor for mis-prescribing sedatives. Victor begs his friend Lady Felicia for an alibi before he’s taken in for questioning. It turns out Charlotte had telephoned the police saying she knew what happened to Elspeth, Victor denies kidnapping his wife, and is released thanks to Lady Felicia’s “testimony”. Back at the house, Selina discovers the items her father had stashed away: pills and medical syringes. Meanwhile outside, Brown, Valentine and Seth Wake, the McKinley’s handyman, discover a skeleton in a collapsed embankment, the body is immediately suspected to be that of Elspeth. The skeleton is initially identified as a woman due to beads being found on the body. Sid informs Brown that Elspeth had a secret romance with Seth Wake. Valentine goes to the hotel room that Seth is staying in (along with Lady Felicia) and arrests him for both disappearances, Lady Felicia sneaks out of the bathroom window and goes to see Father Brown who has become ensconced in some writing inside the dust cover of a book that Charlotte was reading before she disappeared. Brown convinces Lady Felicia to confess the fabrication of Victor’s alibi and to give Seth an actual one, however Valentine rejects this, and it’s also confirmed that the body was actually male. Despite this revelation, letters found between Seth and Elspeth still cast suspicion on him for her disappearance. Brown meets Selina and it is revealed that she was responsible for the chandelier and the painting falling down, the main purpose being to scare her mother to move them back to London. Brown then realises that the body found must be that of a Reformation-era Catholic priest, the beads being a rosary. He deduces the house has a secret priest-hole, he discovers that the code in the book corresponds to a tiled pattern on a wall in the room that Charlotte disappeared from, however it doesn’t work. He heads back to the police station to question Seth, Seth informs him that they were planning on eloping and Elspeth was investigating the legend of a hidden family treasure, hidden somewhere in the house. She never showed up at the meeting place and Seth was convinced she had found the treasure and run away. He confirms that the writing on the dust cover is Elspeth’s and that her handwriting makes the number 1 appear to look like a 7. Brown realises he pressed the wrong tile. Brown rushes back to the house, there Selina discovers her father suffering from a suicidal drug overdose. After calling for a doctor, Brown manages to open the priest hole. Inside he discovers Charlotte, the family treasure, and the remains of Elspeth, who died after becoming trapped inside. Selina follows Brown in and inadvertently closes the door, the room is soundproof so their cries are useless. At the house, Valentine follows a note from Brown which leads him to Victor, and now investigates his and Selina’s disappearances. Valentine then heads to St Mary’s to look for the Father, he begs for a sign and begins to hear metallic banging coming from under his feet. Brown had followed a long tunnel down which happens to end directly under St Mary’s, his banging was picked up by Valentine and he manages to rescue them all. Victor recovers from his overdose, and reveals he developed a morphine addiction following the stress of being suspected of Elspeth’s disappearance, his addiction cost him his job as a doctor. At Elspeth’s funeral, Valentine informs Brown that he is leaving for London and introduces his replacement: Inspector Sullivan, who hopes that Brown will limit his meddling. In quiet, Valentine confesses his gratitude for Brown’s help in past cases and the two amicably part ways. Notes – Final appearance of Hugo Speer as Inspector Valentine. – First appearance of Tom Chambers as Inspector Sullivan.